Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Picture a Christmas...

For today's post, I thought I'd pull together some pictures of my favourite Christmas things, or of things that remind me of Christmas, or things that put me in the Christmas mood.  Because let's face it, it's almost Christmas, and I'm in a particularly Christmassy mood, and I thought I'd spread that joy around just a little so we can get excited together :)

Very first thing on the list:


 
 
Fairy Lights!!  Is there anything more Christmassy than fairy lights?! No! The answer is no! There's nothing more Christmassy than fairy lights :)
 
Two:

Christmas Carols! I love them. Whether it's singing them in church, actually going carolling, singing Handel's messiah with community choirs or just jamming out to carol CDs in the car.... I love this Christmas music.  In fact, I love it almost as much as my brother Michael, which is saying something, because he started playing carols in July...

Third:



This is not a hard one... Christmas Desserts.   (The miracle here is that I limited myself to only two pictures).

The next one's a little funny, because I think of it equally on two completely different ends of the spectrum:



That's right - winter AND summer. For the five years I lived at the foot of the rocky mountains, nothing said Christmas quite like an invigorating nip in the air and those beautiful, magical, falling flakes. On the other hand, the last several years back home in Australia, nothing has said Christmas (and Christmas holidays) like the heating up of the air and that slightly slower, completely wonderful, laid back pace everyone adopts in December. I love that by December 10th, it becomes almost impossible to get any work done with clients because the entire city of Brisbane has decided to shut down. "Oh, we'll just do that in the New Year" becomes the most opt repeated phrase in the Brisbane workforce!

Fifth (and closely related to the third), are some typically Aussie foods that always make me feel like it's Christmas:


That's right - Prawns and stone fruit.  Yum, yum, and yum!

Sixth:

Chilling with the family. One of my very favourite things.  (Obviously I didn't have a picture of my actual family on hand.  But since I always think of Christmas against a Bing Crosby soundtrack in my head, this picture actually captures it all pretty well, lol!)

Seventh: 

Presents! I love spending what feels like half of my time leading up to Christmas getting my presents organised.  Making lists, ordering things, darting through crowds at the department stores, creating things, realising you've finally stumbled on the perfect Christmas present idea for so-and-so.  And then watching everyone open your presents on Christmas morning. So. Much. Fun :)

And finally, or perhaps I should say ultimately, my very very favourite thing about Christmas: Is the actual meaning of Christmas. I love that my thoughts turn to the Saviour and his wonderful gift to all of us. I don't think that it's a coincidence that there's such a special spirit in the world at Christmas time. That inclination to be kinder, more generous, a little more cheerful.  Just a little more like Him.

 
 
So, happy 5th of December!
20 days to go, and counting.... :)
 
xo Tammy 


5 comments:

  1. Yay I love your Christmas list!! :) Similar to mine, except I've never had quite your affinity with fairy lights ;) How good do those pictures of desserts look?! And somebody needs to make a pecan pie for Christmas Day this year!! Let's put that on the list, Mum - Pecan Pie, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Mousse, Choc Hazlenut Tree, Chocolate Yule Log, etc., etc :) And lots of stone fruits!! :) The girls are obsessed with the Nativity story, it's so much fun :) Yay for Christmas!! :) PS: I was going to tell you which person in the 'family picture' you put up was each of us, but I can't even give them fake personas - they're nothing like us! :) xox

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    1. I think I'm probably the one in the middle on the right. The girl with the dark hair in the terribly high fringe hairstyle.

      I think you're probably the one on my left...

      :)

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  2. I wrote a long comment, that disappeared when the power went off for a few minutes, so will now just say, 'I agree!' :)
    xoxo

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  3. I love Christmas! When I read that "20 days to go and counting.." at the end, my stomach filled with excited butterflies and they're still there! Woohooo!! :D :D :D

    The other day, I sunk my teeth into a beautiful mango and bit off a lovely, chunky bit of the flesh and while I was eating it I thought, "Now THIS is Christmas". Mmmm. So fun :)
    And I'm totally with you about the fairy lights! I love them! Mind you, I love them anytime, anywhere as well :)
    xoxoxox
    And by the way, now it's 19 days to go and counting...!!!!

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